If I went back in time and bought my first pair of 'nice' shoes again, I would just pay up for the peace of mind. I'd rather spend ~$100 more and get a pair of C&J bench grade, even on a $350 budget, to make sure I got what I wanted. Can't you get those from PJ's in Sydney now?

Once you factor time potentially spent on returns, plus shipping fees, and wondering if 1/2 size larger or smaller would have been better, why bother? Now that we actually have local places stocking nice shoes, you might as well show your support and get a pair from them.

I don't mean to sound really negative, I've done all the foot tracing stuff and it worked out perfectly well for me (in terms of getting the right size), but if I just wanted some nice black oxfords I wouldn't bother going through it again. Save all that for when you are looking for something peculiar to round out your sizable shoe rotation.

I quite like styles that have a little bit of brogueing on the line of the cap toe like the Crockett and Jones Belgrave and Allen Edmonds Fith Avenue. I would prefer a cap toe like that, but if I cannot find one in my price range a "normal" one is ok too.

I would prefer not to spend more than $300-350 and I don't mind ordering from pediwear or some other foreign website. BUT I would like to try them on first somewhere in Sydney.

Greetings, Kim

That is a strange thought, why would you not buy them from overseas when you can get it cheaper and you have the luxury of trying them and knowing your right size?! The problem for most of us in Australia is that we just can't find them in stores.
Joseph's actually have Aldwych in stock on the Pitt Street store, I would have bought a pair back in the days but he wants to charge me $550 for a shoe that I can get for less than $350 from UK, so yeah, I said I will think about it.

If the difference is like 10% like Double Monk, Herringbone, fair enough, I would have bought it straight away and wore the new shoes out, but not at that price.

Kimcha, you're right that shoes made on the same last will fit in the same manner. So, for example, a pair of Loakes made on the Capital last will fit in the same way as another pair of Loakes made on the same last, even though one pair might be a plain captoe and other might be a captoe with brogueing and a medallion on the cap.

ColdEyedPugilist is right that the C&J Belgrave is made on the 337 last. Unfortunately for you, it's a last that is exclusive to C&J and it is only used for their more expensive Handgrade range.

However, I've got a pair of Loakes on the Capital last (a pair of Strands) and I've got a few pairs of C&Js on the 337 last (Belgraves, Cliffords and two pairs of Audleys) and the two lasts are quite similar in terms of fit, with the Capital last being just slightly more spacious.

Journeyman and the others are spot on, if you are sure that you are a 5.5E in the CJ Belgrave, I am confident that you will be ok in a Loake 5.5F, to be honest, I can hardly tell the difference between between my Audley and Aldwych without checking their soles, 337 last and capital last are very similar. CJ uses E as their standard medium width, while Loake uses F. Loake is like the only decent shoes that you can try on in Sydney and within your price range of $350.

of course, you can go over your budget, but then you can get yourself into a bottomless pit....

Want to grab some superga in white - everywhere is out of stock in my size. Everywhere. Even the Superga UK and US site.

I don't know how they compare for pricing, but Zappos in the US often has a reasonable selection of Superga sandshoes.

Edited to add: I also remember that a friend of mine bought some from Asos, but again I don't know what the pricing is like. Herringbone also used to stock Superga, although I'm not sure if they still do.